Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Jurisprudencia ambiental de la Unión Europea (Primer semestre 2018)

Derecho y Políticas Ambientales en Madrid (Primer Semestre 2018)

Emergence and dissemination of bacteria resistant to multiple antimicrobials is currently one of the major global threats to human and animal public health. Veterinary use of antimicrobials in both developing and developed countries is many-fold greater than their use in human medicine and is an important determinant in selection of these resistant organisms. Our findings on antimicrobial use in salmon aquaculture and their impact on the environment and human health are highly relevant in light of the recently outlined National Plan Against Antimicrobial Resistance in Chile. Ninety-five percent of tetracyclines, phenicols and quinolones imported into Chile between 1998 and 2015 were for veterinary use, mostly in salmon aquaculture. Excessive use of antimicrobials at aquaculture sites was associated with antimicrobial residues in marine sediments 8 km distant, and the presence of resistant marine bacteria harboring easily transmissible resistance genes in mobile genetic elements to these same antimicrobials. Moreover, quinolone and integron resistance genes in human pathogens isolated from patients in coastal regions adjacent to aquaculture sites were sequence-identical to genes isolated from regional marine bacteria, consistent with genetic communication between bacteria in these different environments. Passage of antimicrobials into the marine environment can potentially diminish environmental diversity, contaminate wild fish for human consumption, and facilitate the appearance of harmful algal blooms and resistant zoonotic and human pathogens. Our findings suggest that changes in aquaculture in Chile that prevent fish infections and decrease antimicrobial usage will prove a determining factor in preventing human and animal infections with multiply antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in accord with the modern paradigm of One Health.

Introduction: Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in HIV patients has shown reduction in morbidity and mortality, and decrease in contagious risk. International recommendations include early initiation of ART, irrespectively of CD4 cell count. Objective: To describe the impact of ART initiation in CD4 cell count and viral load at the end of the first year of HIV treatment, for patients who entered the program at 2013 and 2015. Methodology: Descriptive study. The sample comprehends all patients who started their ART treatment in the indicated years, at HCVB. Results: 78 and 100 patients initiated ART treatment in 2013 and 2015, respectively. In 2013, 48 out of 78 patients (61.5%), and in 2015, 55 (55%) patients started therapy with CD4 > 200 cell/mm3. The follow-up in the first group resulted on 43 (55%) patients with an undetectable CV at the end of first year of treatment, meanwhile in the second group 72% achieved this target (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Early ART initiation increased the proportion of patients with undetectable CV. However, we must improve strategies to optimize results.

Background: Carbapenems are the preferred β-lactamics for treatment for infections caused by enterobacteri producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL); however, clinical studies show effectiveness of piperacillin/tazobactam in certain infections by Escherichia coli ESBL producers. Aim: To determine the clinical and microbiological cure with piperacillin/tazobactam in patients with infections caused by E. coli ESBL producers, CTXM type. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study with adults hospitalized in a university hospital. We included urinary tract infections (UTI), intra-abdominal infections (IAI), soft tissue infections (STI) and/or bacteremia. Results: We studied 40 patients, where 65% corresponded to UTI, 25% to IAI and 10% were STI. The overall clinical cure was achieved in 89.4%, with the best results in the ITU (100%), followed by STI (80%) and 70% in IAI. The 85% of the strains had minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) ≤8 μg/ml and 70% with MIC ≤4 μg/mL, however the rate of failure were high in intra-abdominal infections with high inocula or not controlled; CTX-M-15 was found in the 62.5%. Conclusions: Piperacillin/tazobactam was efficient to obtain clinical and microbiological cure in patients with infections caused by ESBL producers but susceptible E. coli, especially in UTI and STI and to a lesser extent in IAI.

Staphylococcus aureus isolates resistant to several antimicrobials have been gradually emerged since the beginning of the antibiotic era. Consequently, the first isolation of methicillin-resistant S. aureus occurred in 1960, which was described a few years later in Chile. Currently, S. aureus resistant to antistaphylococcal penicillins is endemic in Chilean hospitals and worldwide, being responsible for a high burden of morbidity and mortality. This resistance is mediated by the expression of a new transpeptidase, named PBP2a or PBP2’, which possesses lower affinity for the β-lactam antibiotics, allowing the synthesis of peptidoglycan even in presence of these antimicrobial agents. This new enzyme is encoded by the mecA gene, itself embedded in a chromosomal cassette displaying a genomic island structure, of which there are several types and subtypes. Methicillin resistance is mainly regulated by an induction mechanism activated in the presence of β-lactams, through a membrane receptor and a repressor of the gene expression. Although mec-independent methicillin resistance mechanisms have been described, they are clearly infrequent.

Background. In 2016 tuberculosis (TB) was considered the ninth leading cause of death worldwide and the leading cause of a single infectious agent, with approximately 1.6 million deaths worldwide and a lethality of 15%. Over 95% of cases and deaths are in developing countries like Colombia. Aim: To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients who died during TB treatment in a high complexity hospital in Cali, Colombia. Methods: We conducted an analytic retrospective cohort during 2007-2016 in Fundación Valle del Lili. We included patients with TB diagnosis, who died during TB treatment. Results: From 787 patients with TB, 69 died (8.8%). Fifty nine percent were male, the average of age was 51.9 years. There was diagnosis delay in 51% of the patients and 74% presented pulmonary TB. Sixty four percent 64 died in the first 30 days of the TB diagnosis and 61% of the deaths were attributable to TB. Twenty five percent of patients had TB/HIV coinfection. Elderly patients (> 65 years old) were associated with death in the first 30 days of TB diagnosis (p < 0,001). Discussion: The lethality found in this study was higher than expected (8.8%), the majority of patients had serious comorbidities. Elderly patients were associated with early death. The main pathophysiological mechanism of death was septic shock caused by severe tuberculous pneumonia.

Background: The association between ethnicity and HIV/AIDS is an emerging and unexplored issue in Chile. Aim: To determine the profile of patients with HIV/AIDS by ethnicity and socioeconomic factors associated with diagnostic-therapeutic opportunity in the Araucania and Metropolitan regions. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 558 patients from two centers of HIV/AIDS in Chile. Data were collected using a questionnaire with clinical and sociocultural data obtained under informed consent. Descriptive analysis raw and stratified associations for each variable was performed. Results: Mapuche patients were mostly male, heterosexual (53.1%), lower average age (36.7 years), educational and income level lower than no Mapuche patients. The median of CD4(+) lymphocytes from Mapuche patients was the lowest in the sample, less than 51 cells/mm3, under 25 percentile (CI 38-123). Lifestyle variables indicated that drug use, number of sexual partners, and relationships between men were associated with higher levels of income, education and no Mapuche ethnicity. Conclusion: There are differences between Mapuche and non Mapuche patients regarding their sociocultural and clinical status, which generates health inequalities.